In a vote that heralded a break from the ambitious nationalist policies of Japan's outgoing leader, Yasuo Fukuda was chosen Sunday as head of the governing Liberal Democratic Party. Fukuda's selection virtually ensures that he will be elected prime minister on Tuesday by the lower house of parliament, which his party controls. The party veteran defeated the hawkish former Foreign Minister Taro Aso, 330 votes to 197, in a poll of LDP lawmakers and top regional organizers.

TOKYO - Declaring that "the United States is and always will be a Pacific nation," President Obama launched an Asia tour designed to assure leaders of ally nations that they have a strong U.S. backup at a time of rising regional tension. Appearing with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday morning, Obama said the "U.S.-Japan alliance is the foundation not only for our security in the Asia-Pacific region but also for the region as a whole. " He later said the U.S. security treaty with Japan "covers all territories under Japan's administration, including the Senkaku islands," but reiterated that Washington did not take a position on competing claims of sovereignty.

Japanese voters delivered a stinging slap to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's nationalist obsessions Sunday, punishing his government for focusing on the grand ambition of a more assertive Japan while allowing the day-to-day management of the economy to descend into scandal and disarray.

WASHINGTON - After more than four years and 20 rounds of negotiations, the world's biggest free-trade deal in a generation has come down in good part to this: the United States and Japan squabbling over beef. With President Obama due to arrive Wednesday in Tokyo for a two-day summit with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, their aides have been pulling all-nighters in the hope of reaching a compromise on tariffs for beef and, to a lesser extent, pork and dairy products. The proposed 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership is seen as the centerpiece of Obama's promised re-balance in foreign policy priorities to fast-growing Asia-Pacific.

This month 75 years ago, the people of Nanking, China's ancient capital city, were in the midst of one of the worst atrocities in history, the infamous Rape of Nanking. The truth of what actually happened is at the center of a bitter dispute between China and Japan that continues to play out in present-day relations. Many Chinese see Japan's election last month of ultraconservative nationalist Shinzo Abe as prime minister as just the latest in a string of insults. And it was recently reported that Japan is considering rolling back its 1993 apology regarding "comfort women," the thousands of women the Japanese army sexually enslaved during World War II. In 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army, captured Nanking on Dec. 13. No one knows the exact toll the Japanese soldiers exacted on its citizens, but a postwar Allied investigation put the numbers at more than 200,000 killed and at least 20,000 women and girls raped in the six weeks after the city fell.

Conservative Shinzo Abe trounced two opponents to win the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, receiving 66% of the votes. Attention now turns to Tuesday, when parliament is expected to appoint him prime minister. Abe, who turns 52 today, would be Japan's youngest premier and the first born after World War II.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to make Japan a decisive force on the international stage while promoting hard work and patriotism at home. Abe, in his first speech before parliament since winning the premiership Tuesday, also promised to drive ahead with revising the pacifist constitution. "I aim for a country that is trusted, revered and...asserts its leadership," he said.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized for the first time over his former defense minister who said the U.S. nuclear attacks on Japan "couldn't be helped." Abe also promised survivors expanded medical support for those still suffering the effects of the 1945 atomic blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, officials and media reports said. Hiroshima marks the anniversary of the world's first nuclear attack today.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he is ready to resign if parliament fails to extend a refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan. The renewal of the legislation allowing the refueling mission is expected to be one of the main topics of debate in an extraordinary session of parliament that convenes today.

Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has announced plans to revise his country's famous pacifist constitutional provision, Article 9, which renounces "war as a sovereign right of the nation. " On the surface, Abe's proposal may seem merely symbolic, suggesting that he simply wants to add an explicit recognition of the country's right to military self- defense. Since Japan has long maintained "self-defense" forces, the predictable expressions of concern in foreign capitals may seem overblown.

TOKYO - After two decades of economic stagnation, once-mighty Japan is beginning to revive - under policies that some experts say could offer lessons to the still-struggling economies of the United States and Europe. While the Eurozone tries to break out of recession and the U.S. economic recovery remains anemic, Japan has begun to grow at an encouraging rate. The shock-therapy policies of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have helped Japan's economy expand for three straight quarters at a pace faster than that of the United States.

WASHINGTON - As Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrives for a Friday summit with President Obama, trade will be at the top of the diplomatic agenda along with security concerns, including new threats from North Korea and an escalating territorial dispute over islands near Japan. On almost every major issue, political and economic, China's shadow will hover over the talks. Abe, who took office in December as Japan's seventh prime minister in six years, will almost certainly push for strong U.S. backing in Japan's tense standoff with China over the Senkaku islets in the East China Sea, which the Japanese administer but which are also claimed by the Chinese, who call them Diaoyu.

WASHINGTON - In unveiling a new stimulus plan, Japan's central bank for the first time set an ambitious inflation target aimed at breaking the nation out of its long deflationary trap and economic stagnation. But many analysts and investors were disappointed with Tuesday's action. They said the moves by the Bank of Japan, in response to relentless nagging by Japan's new prime minister to be more aggressive, fell far short of what was needed to put the world's third-largest economy on a path of sustained growth - offering little hope that Japan would provide a boost to the fragile global economy any time soon.

This month 75 years ago, the people of Nanking, China's ancient capital city, were in the midst of one of the worst atrocities in history, the infamous Rape of Nanking. The truth of what actually happened is at the center of a bitter dispute between China and Japan that continues to play out in present-day relations. Many Chinese see Japan's election last month of ultraconservative nationalist Shinzo Abe as prime minister as just the latest in a string of insults. And it was recently reported that Japan is considering rolling back its 1993 apology regarding "comfort women," the thousands of women the Japanese army sexually enslaved during World War II. In 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army, captured Nanking on Dec. 13. No one knows the exact toll the Japanese soldiers exacted on its citizens, but a postwar Allied investigation put the numbers at more than 200,000 killed and at least 20,000 women and girls raped in the six weeks after the city fell.

Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has announced plans to revise his country's famous pacifist constitutional provision, Article 9, which renounces "war as a sovereign right of the nation. " On the surface, Abe's proposal may seem merely symbolic, suggesting that he simply wants to add an explicit recognition of the country's right to military self- defense. Since Japan has long maintained "self-defense" forces, the predictable expressions of concern in foreign capitals may seem overblown.

December 16, 2012 | By Barbara Demick and Yuriko Nagano, Los Angeles Times

Japan's conservative former ruling party made a dramatic comeback in elections Sunday, riding a wave of anxiety about rising China and economic stagnation. The resounding victory of the Liberal Democratic Party will put Shinzo Abe, a former prime minister, back in power, where he is likely to pursue a tougher stance toward China and prevent the nation from abandoning nuclear energy, despite last year's disaster at Fukshima. Exit polls by major Japanese broadcasters gave the Liberal Democratic Party 296 seats in Japan's 480-seat lower house, while its ally, the New Komeito Party, was projected to win 32. That would give them the two-thirds majority needed to overrule the upper house, perhaps breaking the deadlocks that have long stymied Japanese governments.

Re "Will the Rising Sun rise again?" Opinion, Sept. 25 Michael Zielenziger relied on worn-out stereotypes and inaccuracies about current affairs in Japan, which has recovered from a 15-year economic recession through the leadership of successive administrations. Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated insistence that the economy would not grow without reform has produced fundamental and resolute structural reforms. These efforts have paid off. The new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, having been in Koizumi's Cabinet, played a major role in carrying out economic reforms and is determined to continue reforms.

Japan's parliament elected Shinzo Abe as prime minister today, swapping the leadership theatrics of Junichiro Koizumi for a less charismatic and untested politician who emerged from a new wave of assertive Japanese nationalists. Abe won election easily, securing votes from a majority of lawmakers, most of whom are members of the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, and its junior coalition partner, the New Komeito Party.

December 16, 2012 | By Yuriko Nagano and Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times

TOKYO - The conservative party that dominated postwar Japan was returned to power, after a three-year absence, in a landslide election victory Sunday that will result in hawkish Shinzo Abe returning as prime minister. Abe, 58, who served in the post once before, is likely to pursue a tougher stance toward China and prevent his nation from abandoning nuclear energy. The Liberal Democratic Party was projected by national broadcaster NHK to win 294 out of 480 seats in Japan's lower house, while an ally, the New Komeito Party, had a projected 31. That would give them the two-thirds majority needed to overrule the upper house, perhaps breaking deadlocks that have long stymied Japanese governments.